Related Stories and Links

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A year ago, sales of multi-million dollar homes in Vancouver were skewing the national home price upward. Now we’re having the opposite effect, according to an industry group.

“High-end activity in Vancouver is well off the peak levels reached at this time last year, which is exerting a gravitational pull on the national average price,” states Gregory Klump, Chief Economist with the Canadian Real Estate Association. “Netting Vancouver out of the national average price calculation yields a 4.9 per cent year-on-year gain.”

The nationwide gain including Vancouver is just 0.9 per cent.

Economist Diana Petramala at TD Bank says, “the number of homes sold in Vancouver has fallen for five consecutive months, indicating a cooling in overall demand.”

Seasonally adjust local home resales in April were down 2 per cent from March and more than 13 per cent from a year earlier. The unadjusted average price was 9.8 per cent lower at $815,000.